Doncaster Sheffield Airport Could Permanently Close

[hackey lad]

37 minutes ago, Jack Grey said:

They have tried and failed with a Sheffield airport for years

 

Maybe it's time to just give up and move on 

It’s a Sheffield airport in name only.

[Chekhov]

On 15/09/2023 at 08:42, HeHasRisen said:

"could be".

 

Unless they attract Ryanair, Easyjet, Jet2 and/or have more than one TUI plane based there, its a non starter anyway. And you have to question how many of those airlines want to shove a load of planes there given their bases at nearby airports.

It's a chicken and egg situation, hence the fact the bidders want huge subsidies for a few years, which sounds fair enough TBH.

All other things being equal we'd rather use Donny airport given a choice, but if there's no choice we can't.

Edited September 16, 2023 by Chekhov

[Jack Grey]

Just seems pointless when we have Manchester, Leeds and East Midlands only an hours drive away 

Edited September 16, 2023 by Jack Grey

[SMITHIE]

Good luck driving to Manchester Airport within the hour.

 

[SMITHIE]

I wasn’t being pedantic,  just stating a fact.  It’s hit and miss driving to Manchester Airport and you couldn’t just allow an hour to get there and be confident of arriving on time.  And I don’t think your abbreviation is called for. 

[Jack Grey]

2 minutes ago, SMITHIE said:

I wasn’t being pedantic,  just stating a fact.  It’s hit and miss driving to Manchester Airport and you couldn’t just allow an hour to get there and be confident of arriving on time.  And I don’t think your abbreviation is called for. 

Any sensible adult would evaluate when they need to get to the airport 

 

But point to point is any hour

 

Then asses if you are flying internal, European or international

 

Do you understand the difference?

[Longcol]

1 hour ago, Jack Grey said:

Just seems pointless when we have Manchester, Leeds and East Midlands only an hours drive away 

And each have a bigger (and certainly in the case of Manchester and Leeds, more affluent) population on their doorstep.

[ECCOnoob]

This all seems to be some great vanity project from the local authorities and our totally pointless city regional mayor or whatever he's called.

 

I'd love to know what these civil service pen pushers come aviation experts believe they can do sooo much better than the management running DSA during its 15 year operation.

 

The hard reality is, even at its absolute peak most popular route DSA was recording passenger numbers between 5 to 10 times less than places like Leeds/Bradford, East Midlands, Manchester or even Liverpool airports. 

 

At its absolute best ever year back in 2007 DSA  only just scraped over a million passengers. Whereas the same year Manchester was already serving over 22 million (even during covid years Manchester was still handling between 6 and 7 million passengers)

 

During the surge in popularity of budget airlines DSA repeatedly fail to attract a single one to create a substantial hub there. All it could ever rely on was seasonal holiday flights and the more obscure destination carriers which likely  held them to ransom on fees because they will be desperate for anyone to utilise the airport facilities.  

 

If they couldn't attract the 'big names' back then, I really can't see how they believe they are going to miraculously change the situation now.  

 

All the sentimental comments I read from "the public" all seem to be banging on praising how good the airport was because it was so much less crowded or how calm and quiet or peaceful and easy to get through.  Well that's wonderful. But guess what.... quiet calm non-crowded airports don't make money. 

 

Its supposed to be a business and now is become a taxpayer funded business - so if it ain't going to make money in any way shape or form it ain't and certainly shouldn't be reopening. That is a sort of cold harsh business decision that needs to be made, not deluded public sentiment and nostalgia.

[Anna B]

Reaching Manchester Airport at all in winter is hit and miss, when there's snow over the Pennines.

And Manchester Airport is well past its sell-by date, in fact it's a dump.

If the government is serious about 'Levelling up,' they could do worse than turn Doncaster Sheffield Airport into a State of the art Northern hub of Heathrow.

 

Doncaster Sheffield with its central position has a huge catchment area with access to motorways and with its super long  runway (longest in Europe) it could become a major International Airport to the East of the Pennines, linking it with Europe and the Far East, and big enough to take the big Air Bus planes for long haul International flights all over the world.

It has space for the necessary buildings and infrastructure it would need, and attract international commerce and business to the North, easing the strangle hold and over crowding that is causing a crisis in London and the south east.   

[hackey lad]

3 minutes ago, ECCOnoob said:

This all seems to be some great vanity project from the local authorities and our totally pointless city regional mayor or whatever he's called.

 

I'd love to know what these civil service pen pushers come aviation experts believe they can do sooo much better than the management running DSA during its 15 year operation.

 

The hard reality is, even at its absolute peak most popular route DSA was recording passenger numbers between 5 to 10 times less than places like Leeds/Bradford, East Midlands, Manchester or even Liverpool airports. 

 

At its absolute best ever year back in 2007 DSA  only just scraped over a million passengers. Whereas the same year Manchester was already serving over 22 million (even during covid years Manchester was still handling between 6 and 7 million passengers)

 

During the surge in popularity of budget airlines DSA repeatedly fail to attract a single one to create a substantial hub there. All it could ever rely on was seasonal holiday flights and the more obscure destination carriers which likely  held them to ransom on fees because they will be desperate for anyone to utilise the airport facilities.  

 

If they couldn't attract the 'big names' back then, I really can't see how they believe they are going to miraculously change the situation now.  

 

All the sentimental comments I read from "the public" all seem to be banging on praising how good the airport was because it was so much less crowded or how calm and quiet or peaceful and easy to get through.  Well that's wonderful. But guess what.... quiet calm non-crowded airports don't make money. 

 

It’s supposed to be a business and now is become a taxpayer funded business - so if it ain't going to make money in any way shape or form it ain't and certainly shouldn't be reopening. That is a sort of cold harsh business decision that needs to be made, not deluded public sentiment and nostalgia.

“Vanity project  “ is correct . They are trying to justify their position and wages .